So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of
silver
Or, "fifteen shekels", which was about one pound seventeen
shillings and six pence of our money, reckoning a shekel at two
shillings and six pence; though some make it to be but two
shillings and four pence; this was but half the price of a
servant, ( Exodus 21:32
) , and alludes to the dowry which men used to give to women at
their marriage; see ( 1 Samuel
18:25 ) . The word here used has the signification of
digging; hence the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "I dug her";
and the abettors and defenders of it think it refers to the
digging, or boring the ears of a servant that chose to continue
with his master, ( Exodus 21:6 ) , but the
word is used in the sense of buying, ( Genesis 1:5 ) (
Deuteronomy 2:6 ) , and
so Jarchi says it has the sense of merchandise or bargaining; and
in the sea coasts he observes, that they call (hrykm) , a purchase, (hryk) . Perhaps the word is better
rendered by the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "hired"; and
<arabic> "cara" in the Arabic language signifies "to hire";
so it is used in ( Acts 28:30 ) . So with
the Turks, as Monsieur Thevenot F6 observes, a letter out of
beasts to hire is called "moucre" or "moukir", which comes from
the Arabic word "kira", he says, which signifies to let or hire;
and is here fitly used of a harlot. The Jews have many whims and
fancies about these fifteen pieces of silver. The Targum, and
Pesikta in Jarchi, take them to respect the fifteenth day of
Nisan, on which the Israelites were redeemed out of Egypt;
according to Aben Ezra, they design the fifteen kings of Judah,
from Rehoboam to the captivity, reckoning the sons of Josiah as
one, being brethren; according to others, in Kimchi, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve tribes; and, according to
Abarbinel, the fifteen prophets that prophesied of the
redemption: and for an homer of barley, and an half homer
of barley;
a "homer" held ten "ephahs", and a "lethec", or "half homer",
five "ephahs", or so many bushels, these making the number
fifteen: again, according to Saadiah, they design Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam, and the twelve tribes; and, according to Aben Ezra,
the number of the high priests in the kingdom of Judah and
Jerusalem, a homer making thirty seahs, and a half homer fifteen,
in all forty five; but according to others, in Kimchi, these
design the forty five days between the coming of the Israelites
out of Egypt and their receiving the law: but, leaving these
fancies, as the number of shekels given for her was but a low
price, and shows what an estimate was made of her; and barley
being the coarsest of grain, and bread made of it, that of the
worst sort, which the poorer people eat; may be expressive of the
captive, servile, mean, and abject state of the people of Israel,
from the time of their captivity to their conversion to Christ,
as is after more fully explained.